At the Edge of the Universe
by Lils12706
Summary: Another Loki survives Thanos fanfic, but plot twist: he is found by 4 Midgardian kids stranded in space with no idea how to get home or even fly the spaceship. Loki embarks with the kids on a journey to get them home to Midgard, enduring physical and emotional challenges along the way, and to Thor and the Avengers before Thanos gets all of the stones.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so when I first saw Infinity War, I was on the verge of tears when Loki died and have been trying to read as much fanfiction as I could that have him survive Thanos. While there are a good amount of them, I haven't really found the Perfect Fanfiction if you know what I mean. So I'm going to try and write one to my liking, spinning off to see what could have happened if Loki had survived in Infinity War. I do not own Infinity War along with the entire MCU and all of the characters...*sigh***

The moment the ship came into view, Loki knew he was going to die.

Before, he was prepared for death. Ready to let go at a moments notice. To leave everything behind without a single trace of regret or fear. Now, he was not prepared. Not even the slightest bit.

Fear clawed at him like a beast, desperate to make a wound on him. It was unbearable, making Loki want to curl up and cry...and cry and cry and cry. For everything. For his mother, father, for Asgard, his crimes on Midgard, for all the hateful words and lies told over the years, for faking his death...twice, for being the worst fricken brother in the world...his brother. He couldn't leave now. Not after everything, he just couldn't. He wouldn't.

Loki snapped out of his thoughts as the ship shuddered. Turning around, Loki grabbed onto his brother,

"Brother, you must evacuate everyone immediately."

"But-"

"Now! Or everyone will perish and it will be all your fault!"

Thor took one look at his brother and knew it was urgent. He was pale, more than usual, his mouth was set into a thin line, and his eyes...there was a flicker of emotion. Fear?

He took this and shouted to the guards outside their room to start evacuating the people into the ship's escape pods. Taking one last look at his brother, Thor sped off to go help the process.

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"The Tesserect, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference."

Loki schooled his face into a blank expression as he stares at the monster in front of him. The monster that killed millions from all across the galaxy without blinking an eye, without a single thought of regret...or mercy. Swallowing his fear for his brother and himself he says,

"Oh I do. Kill away."

Loki watches as Thanos places the gauntlet with the power stone occupying one of the six spots on the metal hand against his brothers head. As the stone begins to glow, Thor screams bloody murder as the stone slowly kills him. He watches as Thanos grins, eyes flicking over to him every few seconds to see the if Loki gives in. He does. But only when he's watched too much. It could have been seconds or it could've been hours, but Loki couldn't take it anymore. To watch a sibling die is nothing anyone should ever have to endure. Loki begins to pity Thor, for all the times he's left him.

"ALL RIGHT STOP!"

Thanos removes the stone from Thor's head, but keeps him at arms length just in case the trickster decided to make things complicated again Thor, who is panting and looks pretty roughed up, says between gasps,

"We don't have the Tesserect. It was destroyed on Asgard."

Loki sucks in a breath and glances at Thor. He is met with blue eyes gleaming with suspicion as to why Loki didn't second his words. Swallowing his guilt, Loki lifts his hand into the air and summons the Tesserect into it.

"You really are the worst brother," Thor says.

"I assure you brother," Loki says after a pause as he advances towards Thanos. "The sun will shine apon is again."

"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian," Thanos says, glaring down at the two of them.

"Well for one thing, I'm not Asgardian," says Loki. "And for another... we have a hulk."

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Loki watched as the Hulk battled Thanos valiantly. He watches as Thanos begins to beat Hulk in a manner of punches and kicks. He watches as the Hulk is defeated, fainting onto the ground and crushing all of their hope as he descends.

He also watches Thor, the oaf he is, slam a metal bar across the back of the Mad Titan, proven to be harmless as LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE!

Ebony Maw, a noseless disgusting being that is part of Thanos army, uses his powers and binds Thor in place with a bunch of metal debris, effectively trapping him from almost any form of movement.

A sudden large flash of rainbow light catches his eye as he sees the Hulk getting carried away by the Bifrost off to Midgard.

Thanos growls.

"That was a mistake," was the only thing he said before he stabbed his child's glaive into Heimdall.

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Loki watches as Thanos puts the Tesserect, now Reality Stone into a socket in the gauntlet, and his mind begins to race. Thanos and his children are done here, and they aren't very merciful beings. He isn't going to leave without one of them being killed. Loki glances at Thor from the shadows. No, not him. Desperate, Loki begins to rack his mind of every prank, trick, joke, scheme, and lie he's ever told that could save their lives, even if it's just one of them, today. Lightbulb.

Pushing down his fear, he steps out of the shadows and puts on a brave face.

"If I may interject...If you're going to Earth, you may want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that area."

"If you consider failure experience," Thanos says, looking unimpressed.

"I consider experience, experience."

He sucks in a breath.

"Almighty Thanos, I...Loki...Prince Of Asgard..." he looks at Thor and continues, trying not to let fear and regret completely take over him. "Odinson...The rightful heir of Jotunheim...hereby pledge to you, my _undying _fidelity."

By now, Loki knows Thor can see the dagger. And he can tell how much he's screaming at him internally by the look Thor gives him.

The sun will shine upon us again.

And then...he lunged, dagger in hand.

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Loki must have been very close to death looking back apon it to have saw or thought he saw, at least, his mother. He thought he must've been delirious from the constant crushing pain on his esophagus, and the lack of blood flow in his head. She had been wearing the same thing as she wore the day she died, her hair the same way along with her features. But to Loki, she'd never looked so beautiful.

"Mother?" Loki croaked, his neck very sore from Thanos's grip.

"Oh Loki, my son. Do not come any closer," Frigga said in a warning tone.

"Mother, it hurts."

"I know, I know. But you can fight it, Loki. I know you can. You have so many things to live for, so many new people."

Loki sniffed. Was he crying?

"Oh darling," Frigga continued. "Your brother needs you, more than ever. I fear he might break if he loses anyone else. He needs his brother, Loki, and you need him."

"But mother...I miss you. And...and" at this, Loki let out a loud sob. "I'm so sorry!"

"Oh my son, there is nothing to be sorry for."

"But th-"

"That's the thing about living, Loki. You and your actions control the present, past, and future. If you keep going back to the memories of your crimes and failures and acting out on them, you ain't gonna fix a thing, but if you move on and let them free, you can get anywhere you want and create new memories with people. And even if they don't forget what you've done, they're gonna remember the good memories now as well."

Loki wipes away tears, trying to get back his little to no scraps of dignity that he has left and says,

"I love you, Mother. I'll never forget you."

"As will I. Goodbye, Loki."

"Goodbye, Mother."

And everything fades away with a sickening _crack!_

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Through the vast expanse of space, a Midgardian ship hurtled past the cosmos.

It was a relatively small ship but it was well made considering it was made on Midgard, a planet technologically behind if compared to Asgard or some of the other planets throught the realms.

Inside of the ship held 3 Midgardian teenagers and a young boy. Each one was on the verge of tears from fear and anxiety.

"I can't believe you brought us into this mess. We would never be here in the first place if you had just done what you were told for once" said the oldest teen, a tall girl.

"Oh Shut up. You need to loosen up a little. It's kinda cool if you think about it" said a slightly younger boy, with an athletic frame

"COOL?!? We have limited food, water, and probably air, and we have no idea how to pilot this thing. Plus, the middle of nowhere with no idea how to get home. We can die out here," said the girl.

At this, the young boy, at only the age of 7 began to sob.

"Great, you freaked him out."

"I didn't mean too- shh shh, it's okay...hey, ugh."

The boy jerked from her grasp and ran sobbing to the sleeping area of the ship.

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

Finally, a smaller boy with glasses and curly hair who had been silent throughout the whole argument spoke,

"So what now?"

"I don't know."

"Me neither."

"But you're the one who's supposed to know everything."

"Well I don't, okay! Nobody's perfect."

There was a small silence until the girl broke it with a barely audible whisper,

"I'm scared, guys. I don't want to die."

"I think you speak for all of us."

"Yeah."

The girl swallowed,

"I'm sorry, for everything I said...before"

"It's okay, you're forgiven. It doesn't matter anyways," said the athletic boy.

"Yes it does! I was cruel and I-"

"Uh guys."

"Don't interrupt me," she said giving the quiet boy a glare. "Yeah, I was mean and cruel and I didn't even think about what I said."

"Don't act like your the only jerk here. I was too. I took everything for granted an-"

"Guys!"

They ignored him.

"I should have-"

"I didn't mean to-"

"GUYS!!!"

"WHAT IS IT!" Both yelled.

The quiet boy just pointed to the window overlooking the space in front of them. Outside...

"What the f-"

** So that's chapter one. This is my first fanfiction ever sooo idrk, if it's bad lmk how I can fix it, and give me some ideas, I appreciate everything. I promise it will get better, I'm not really good at rewriting and copying things from books and movies and I prefer to write them on my own with my own ideas. Like the Midgardian four, they will come into play soon...you'll see. ****Idk when chapter 2 will be out but I hope soon, and I can't wait**


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Loki registered when he woke was that he was in a white room. A very bright white room, almost blinding. And that he was not the only person in the room.

Voices bled out from all over the room.

"-is he alive?"

"We don't even know who he is?"

"-we don't need anyone else on here."

"Stop being selfish-"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

It was all, if you couldn't tell, very overwhelming for Loki. But he couldn't just sit there, so he began to get up. And collapsed off the bed he'd been on onto the floor when he felt the pain.

The room went silent. And then...chaos erupted.

"GET HIM BACK ONTO THE TABLE!!!"

"He's awake?!?"

"LIFT HIM UP...UGHHHH!"

"Oh my god, oh my god!"

"Is he okay?"

Soon, Loki was back onto the bed, strapped to the bed to make sure he didn't _fall _off again, and staring into the eyes of three Midgardian teenagers. Why...why him?

"Okay...now that that's done with," said the only female of the group.

"I wonder if he can hear us. Hey, if you can hear us, lift your finger up to the sky" said an athletic looking boy, honestly one of the dumbest beings he'd ever come across of, even passing Thor. He was strapped down for Norns sake, he couldn't even move his hand.

Loki gave the boy a dirty look.

"Huh...he must be deaf."

The girl face palmed and a smaller boy with glasses just said,

"No...he can hear us dummy."

"Hey!"

"And," he continued. "He's probably confused out of his mind and maybe freaked out, no, definitely freaked out, so let's just explain."

Finally, someone with logic.

The glasses boy stared at him for a few seconds before saying,

"Hello."

Loki went to respond but was stopped by a hand over his mouth from the female. HOW DARE THIS MORTAL STOP A SON OF ODIN FROM SPEAKING!!! This was madness.

"Don't talk," she said. "My mom's a neck doctor, and from what I've heard about neck injuries, if you talk or strain it in anyway, it could be fatal."

It was then that everything came back to him.

"I-" his voice was non-existant, and raspy. But again, her hand was over his mouth.

"Did you literally ignore every single word I said?"

Loki gave her a distracted glance as he thought over everything from Asgard to Thanos getting all the stones, to Thor, and his mother, and finally to the Midgardian kids he was surrounded by. Loki let out a small sigh and went back into reality to see the kids staring at him.

"Well," said the dumb boy.

Loki cocked his head to the side as if to say,_ what?_

_"_He must've not heard the question."

"Oh," said the dumb boy. "Do you want water?"

Water. Oh Norns, yes.

He quickly nodded, kinda mortified that he was at mercy of these mortals.

A few seconds later, the girl brought back his water and a pen and paper on a clipboard. When she noticed his confusion, she said,

"Write."

No shit Sherlock.

But then it dawned on him. Oh.

"So," she said. "We tell you about us, you tell us about you. Got it?"

Loki gave her a look.

"K," she said.

She continued,

"Hello, Mister Alien guy from space," Loki couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Were from earth. And we're not supposed to be here."

Loki nodded, as if to say _continue._

"Um...I'm Sara, and he," she said, pointing at the athletic boy." Is Griff, and he," pointing at the other boy." Is Theo. Anyways, what we want to know, is who are you?"

Loki stared at them for a second, before picking up the pen and writing,

_I am Prince Loki of Asgard, God of Mischief and Lies, Trickster, rightful heir of Jotenheim...and..."_

No, Loki thought, Asgard was alright with its ruler. Or what was left of it anyways.

He looked at the kids.

They stared back at him all with matching faces of confusion.

"Loki??? As in...New York City Loki?"

He gave them a bored look and nodded.

There was silence until the athletic boy, Griff, broke the silence,

"Oh hell no. You killed my cousin. There is no way he is staying on here, no way!"

"Griff, stop. That was like, six years ago! And we have no other choice, what else are we supposed to do," said Sara.

"Yeah."

Griff pondered this for a moment, his face set in agitation, but then yelled out, cracking his knuckles,

"FINE! But don't screw up, _god of mischeif. _Believe it or not, not all Midgardians are that weak,"

And stormed out of the room.

Loki felt like laughing at his lame threat.

"Sorry," Sara said. "He's a little bit much at times. He'll be okay. Now, you said your from Asgard? Where is that?"

_Gone._

"What do you mean."

_It was destroyed by Surtur and my sister. He's a giant fire monster._

To say they looked shocked was a major understement.

"Okay..." said Theo, taking over. "Well, that's not an option."

_Option for what?_

_"_We're kinda in a tight situation."

_I've been in lots._

_"_Then you can help?"

_"_He just woke up Theo, and his neck is broken, he is in no conditon to help us."

_"_But-"

"No!"

While the two bickered, Loki used a tiny bit of the seidr he had left from healing his neck, under the big brace he'd just noticed a few minutes prior on his neck, to transform an image of himself in his natural state.

When they saw the image, there jaws dropped.

"BUT YOU WERE JUST-"

"YOUR BRACE-"

"HOW DID YOU-"

"Silence," Loki said. His voice was still a little raspy, but it was better than before.

Their jaws remained on the floor.

"This is only an image of me. Talk to this one so I don't kill my hand, energy, and myself while writing on the tablet, and just talking in general when the hand does die."

"Al-alright."

"What do you need help with? And I would talk quickly cause my seidr is not going to last forever."

"Ok," said Sara. "Um...so we kinda..."

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After a long time of talking, Loki finally got the point.

"So what you're saying is," said Vision Loki. "You jumped on the ship cause you wanted to explore it, and the ship was Theo's Dad's, and you went on dispite his warnings cause you wanted to impress her and prove your self to Griff, and when the oaf decided to mess with it you WENT ALONG WITH IT, causing you all to go flying into space with little to no food and water and limited air and fuel, with no idea how to fly this thing and no idea what to do? Correct me if I got any of this wrong."

Both children shrugged,

"Sounds about right."

"Your idiots, both of you."

"Yup."

Loki ran a hand through his hair. This was definitely a tight situation.

Almost as if he could read his mind, Theo piped,

"I told you-"

"Silence mortal."

He quickly shut his mouth.

"Okay..." Loki said after about a minute of thinking. "Do you have any idea where we are and how much fuel is left in this...thing."

"Uh, not really for the coordinates, and we have about 25,000 miles left in fuel." _Well shit._

"Not really?"

"Well...my dad made this thing called a star map, but nobody here know how to read it-"

"Brilliant."

"Are you being sarcastic-"

"No...no. Where is the map."

"Up front, but shouldn't you rest? Your sei-seidr-seider thingy- whatever it's called, you said might run out."

"Yes I suppose, is it portable."

"Yeah...I'll go get it," said Sara.

"Go."

Loki layed back onto the bed and made the image of himself disappear. Only the boy with the glasses remained, staring at him.

"What happens if your seidr runs out?"

Sighing, Loki took the pen again and wrote,

_I die. I'm using so much of it already to heal my neck that if I use to much of the seidr I'm using for regular things, then it can cause the magic I'm using for my neck to crumble, henceforth making me, a corpse with little to no neck._

"Oh."

A few minutes later, Sara returned with a disk and a block and put them on the table next to him. She inserted the disk and pressed a few buttons. For the next few moments, nothing happened. They looked ready to give up when it began to glow and then all of a sudden, a map appeared. It was brilliant.

Only, it wasn't.

According to his calculations, they were about 54,000 miles from Midgard. More than twice the amount of gas needed to make the voyage. Loki internally groaned and picked up the pen to informed them.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die," murmered the girl after he'd informed them.

Theo has his face in his hands and was sniffling. Dear Norns, please no. He wasn't very good at comforting.

Loki looked at the star map again, trying to see if there was any other option then just dying. Then he saw it.

There was a planet, 21,036 miles away, called Kao. It was apparently a junk planet, where lots of crime and trade happens. But it was a planet nontheless. And he was not going to die on a ship with three sniffling mortals.

The door opened. And in stepped Griff and...a boy about 7 years of age.

_Four._

The boy had tear stains on his face and looked as if he'd seen a ghost. At the sight of him, Sara immediately rushed towards him and engulfed him in a gigantic bear hug and began rapidly half scolding half questioning him. He pitied the boy.

Noting his confusion, Theo quickly informed him that he was Sara's younger brother, Julian, and that he snuck onto the ship after his sister before they took off.

Loki nodded. He studied the boy, short brown hair, kinda tiny, fairly tan, and oddly quiet.

"Oh," said Theo. "He doesn't speak either. Not after...never mind."

Loki raises his eyebrow and nodded. That makes two of us.

Griff suddenly said when Julian had stopped sobbing,

"So are we screwed or what?"

Loki jotted everything about Kao to explain to them.

At the end of reading it, all three kids were nodding, Griff reluctantly, as if he were upset by the fact that Loki was right.

_Wonderful_

"How do we get there?"

_Doesn't this ship have autopilot?_

_"_Oh right."

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Thor, Rocket, and Groot were flying towards Nidavellir when all of a sudden they were cut off by a slowly moving and poorly made ship.

"AW COME ON ASSHOLES! Do ya even know how to fly?!!" Rocket complained loudly, slamming the side of his seat.

"I am Groot," Groot commented from his seat, still playing his video game.

"Usually I would scold you for language use but I know right. What a bunch of- Thor, you all right buddy?"

Thor was pressed against the side window of the spaceship looking in the direction of the ship that had just passed them.

"Thor?" Rocket asked, kinda concerned.

"Wha-yeah yeah, I'm fine. I just thought I saw-" he paused. "Nah it was nothing, never mind." He said settling back into his seat.

Rocket nodded and went back to flying, checking on Thor every once in a while to make sure he was okay.

He was.

Thor shook his head trying to get the image of the ship out of his head. No, he was dead, D.E.A.D. For good. But then why- no. Coincedence. Lots of people wore green. And black, and had greasy black hair. Lots of people.

Still shaking his head, Thor pushes the memory out of his mind and focuses on Nidavellir. Because Thanos has said it himself,

"No ressurections this time."

But...could there have been? No. Could there be...

Thor sighed and stared out the window again.

_Oh brother, _he thought, _where are you?_

**That was chapter 2, yay! This story is getting really fun to write! And I can't wait to continue it! I also can't wait to reunite those two cause...they honestly are the best together. Oh right...btw this isn't a Thorki story as much as I ship it. Sorry if you thought that. Anyways, chapter 3 will be soon I promise**


	3. Chapter 3

Loki was peacefully lying down on his slightly uncomfortable hospital bed away from the glares and shouts and _noise _omitting from the children when Sara walked in with a few items in hand.

"Here," she said, putting the items on his bedside table. "I brought you some food and water, if your throat can manage, of course. And a book. It's one of my personal favorites. I'd thought you'd might be bored here."

He gave Sara small smile and grabbed his pen and wrote.

_Thank you, I'm sure my throat can manage. And for the book. How much time do we have before arrival?_

"It's gonna be awhile," she said. "Theo said at most it would be two days but still, we're on a tiny ship with four rooms and limited air."

_I'm sure I can read the book sometime in between_, he wrote, taking a glance at the books blue cover.

The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green.

Sounded interesting.

"I suppose I should let you rest, they're probably killing themselves all alone out there," she said, chuckling.

Loki nodded and smiled at her. He liked her.

She walked out the door.

Over the 12 hours he'd already been in the tiny ship, he already had a tiny description of each child.

Sara had short dirty blonde hair, kinda tan skin like her brother, hazel eyes, and was short and kinda skinny, but had some muscle.

Griff had jet black hair and had very tan skin, Loki guessed he was probably part of what Midgardians called, Indian. His eyes were dark brown, like chocolate, and he had a very athletic body. Even though he was the tallest child, Loki still towered over him. He smirked thinking about it.

Theo had pale skin, almost like snow and a mass of curly brown hair. He wore slightly large glasses that kinda made his eyes pop out, though it suited him. He had freckles on his face dotting every once awhile. His eyes were sky blue, and his body was...more lanky than anything. Lanky and skinny. Though in a fight, brains would beat muscle any day. And Loki knew the kid was a genius, even if the kid didn't know himself.

Last but not least, was Julian. Julian had thin short brown hair on his head, and gray eyes. Apart from his skin and height, the similarities ended from him and his sister. While Sara was a tiny bit muscular, the boy wasn't, it was as if he were a walking skeleton. He knew the others weren't concerned, too concerned about surviving the week, but he knew it was because of his tanned skin that the others weren't completely all over him. And...the fact that he didn't speak or let anyone touch or talk to him. Maybe talk to him, but it didn't guarantee he would listen. Loki hadnt.

Speaking of the kid, he was currently watching Loki in the corner of the room, one of Theo's comic books clutched to his chest like a life preserver, staring. After a while of ignoring him and trying to read his book, which was actually okay, considering it was a Midgardian novel, teen romance nonetheless, he put the book down and stared back. They stayed like this for a while.

Sighing, Loki pointed his finger at the comic book the boy was holding, and beckoned him closer. The boy didn't move an inch.

They continued staring until the boy moved. It wasn't much, but it was something. The closest the trickster has seen the boy come to him was at least 8 feet away, which was most of the room. The boy moved about 4 feet, and was close enough now that Loki could see what he'd been reading.

_The Mighty Thor: Vol. 2_

Loki almost rolled his eyes at the sight of the cover.

Thor was way too muscular on that, and his hair wasn't THAT long. Anymore. Loki smirked, but it dropped as soon as he saw the boys face.

Picking up his pen, he wrote,

_What is it?_

Julian just stared at him.

He held out the pen.

There was an awkward silence as Julian slowly took it and began writing in slightly messy print.

_You are Loki._

His eye brows scrunched together as Loki nods.

Julian took the comic book and flipped to a certain page and pointed at a picture. In the box, the picture was of a man with long black hair laughing maniacally for no apparent reason. He wore a mixture of dark green, gold, and black and had horns...Loki blushed. _This is why I hate mortals._

They'd gotten his nose wrong.

So badly, it messed everything up. It didn't even look like him and they'd obviously had seen enough pictures of him on the Midgardian news or whatever to memorize his looks. Ugh.

He honestly didn't know what the big deal was with the kid, other than the fact that he might have just been mocking him about his nose, until he saw that he'd turned the page again and saw him stabbing people with knives and using his seidr for evil. _Oh._

He looked at the boy, and saw fear in his eyes, his eyes that looked far too old for an 8 year old boy's, eyes that had seen too much. He sighed and grabbed the pen again and wrote,

_I will not harm you or your friends. I don't like evil anymore, turns out it kinda sucks. And besides, you guys are helping me, why would I kill you now. If I wanted to, I would have already, believe me._

The boy stared at it before nodding and taking a step closer, and flipping the page once more to a picture of Thor and him fighting. He pointed at Thor and wrote,

_Brother?_

_Yes._

A pang of sadness hit him. He missed his brother, a lot. Norns should know what he'd been going through, he'd always cared for Loki too much, even if he wasn't met with the same love, he still did. Loki smiled at the thought and looked up.

Julian was still staring at him.

And holding up the clipboard and on the paper said,

_Cool._

Cool.

Yeah, they were cool.

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(14 hours later)

"We should try your voice out."

Loki eyes flicked up from the page of his now _very _good book to see Sara, Theo, and Griff standing in the doorway.

He cocked his head to the side as if to say, _what?_

"Maybe he is deaf," muttered Griff, staring at the floor with intense fascination.

Sara, who didn't seem to hear him, said,

"I thought that since your using your seidr as well as the brace to heal your neck, maybe some progress would be done."

Loki wrote,

_While my seidr is working rapidly, my neck is still very weak. You said that to put strain on it will harm it, and I need a lot of my seidr to get supplies on Kao tomorrow. Maybe it's not the best idea._

"Told you," said Theo.

"We at least have to give it a try. If it hurts too much, we can stop and try another day, but we at least need to know for sure."

All eyes were on him now.

Loki shrugged.

_Fine._

Sara begun to peel back the plastic of the brace off his neck. Once it was off, cool air blasted the unprepared skin on his neck. At the sight of it, everyone gasped.

"Jeez!" yelped Griff, staring at his neck in shock. "What you do, put your neck in an engine."

_Is it that bad, _he wrote, always focused on his looks.

"Eehhh..."

_Great._

"Ok so," Sara said. "Try to say something small, like for instance, your name or...a relatives name, or whatever. Try it."

Loki's mind was too focused on the new cold sensation on his neck to listen to the conversation, but quickly heard the last part. Not wanting it to be awkward, Loki shoved out the first name that came to mind.

"Thanos."

Loki's voice was shit. It was scratchy and unbelievably rough, nothing like his usually smooth and suave voice. And not to mention the pain, it hurt like Hel.

The teen's face in front of him were full of confusion.

"Thanos? Who's he?"

"I thought Thor was your brother?"

Loki realized he'd never told them about Thanos, or of all the destruction to come. He'd save it for later.

"No-no-one," he coughed out.

"Ok, maybe you should put the brace back on and give it a break, it sounds pretty bad."

Loki nodded and let her strap the brace on again and in an instant, he was lying down again.

"Well, it was worth a shot," said Theo. "Well let you rest."

Loki closed his eyes as the door to the room slid shut. What he saw staring back at him made him tear open his eyes. He saw _him. _The monster. He couldn't get out of his head. What was happening to him?

Loki rubbed a hand down his face and took out his book. Hazel and Augustus were currently enjoying the Midgardian city, Amsterdam and were to visit their favorite author together, Peter Van Houton, the next day. He let himself fall into the words. Into a far different and better place. He let himself live and breath as Hazel as she realized that nothing good lasts forever. Nothing good lasts forever.

He let a tear run down his cheek. Oh Norns, he missed Thor. More than anything else in the world. And his mother. His father even. Thor's friends. Heimdall. Banner. The Midgardian Avengers, even that blasted tin can, Stark.

If he could go back in time, he would fix everything. Every single thing. Every single word. Every single moment. Every single act. Every single lie. Every single _Kill. _

His mother's words came back to him.

"_If you spend all your time thinking about the bad memories, you ain't gonna fix a thing."_

That, he admitted, was true. He was getting nowhere right now. Nowhere but despair.

Sighing, Loki looked out his window to the everlasting sea of darkness. Somewhere, out there, was his brother, possibly fighting all the evil in the galaxy, trying to save as much people as possible because he was so _good. _

And he loved him for that.

Not that he'd ever tell him.

But he did.

And always will.

_Brother, _Loki thought out to the infinity of stars. _You big oaf._ _Where ever you are, know that I miss you, every second. And that I'm coming, soon. I did tell you I would anyways, unless you truly didn't understand._

_"The sun will shine apon us again."_

Indeed it would, but first, he needed to break through the clouds. But that would be easy.

If only.

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The stars heat burned his flesh as he held open the gate to the boiling thingy (lol idek.) It killed, burning every single cell one by one, except, it was more like 100,000 by 100,000. It still hurt either way.

Thor roared as another wave of pain erupted across his skin, and felt his strength decreasing by a landslide. _No no no no no. _He had to stay strong. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the gates open harder to hopefully make it go by faster.

It didn't.

His strength, which was near nonexistent now, was failing him. He was so tired...so, so tired. Thor's eyes blurred, and he was about to let go when he heard a voice. A familiar voice. No.

_It was Loki._

"Brother, you big oaf. Where ever you are, know that I miss you, every second. And that I'm coming, soon. I did promise you that anyways. Unless you truly didn't understand. _The sun will shine apon is again."_

_Loki._

_Coming._

_ALIVE._

A sudden burst of energy erupted from within him and he pushed the core with all his might, all his will, because Loki was alive. His little brother was out there! Alive!

"_Thor, Thor, good buddy, come on back," _said Rocket through the microphone.

Exhausted, Thor flew off back to the main room where he collapsed onto the floor, hitting his head in the process, putting him in a mini coma. In that, everything faded away.

_Loki was alive, Loki was alive, Loki was al-_

_No. He was gone. What was he thinking about again?_

Loki's words that saved his life were like ash to the wind. Blown away to infinity.

Thor awoke with a start, his new axe, Stormbreaker, in his hand.

"Ugh, what happened," he said groggily. "I feel like shit."

Rocket chucked and held out a hand to Thor,

"Ya look like it too."

Thor took his hand and leaned against the wall for support, new axe in hand, not knowing at all, that Loki had just saved his life.

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Loki awoke to a hand shaking his shoulder.

"Loki, c'mon, we're almost there, you gotta get up."

Loki groaned and took Sara's arm that was extended to him.

When he stood up, he wobbled and almost crashed but Sara caught him just in time.

"Steady there," she said.

_Yeah, yeah._

Slowly, the two made their way out to the main room, unaware of the dangers that lay ahead for the five, and all the things that would happen in the near future that would change _everything._

**And cut! Dramatic I know. But it is, just wait. Thank you all for the editing reviews. Btw sorry for any grammar mistakes and science stuff. Not a big astronomer. Or a mathematician. Anyways, enough of school stuff, it's summer honestly. Thx for reading and I can't wait for Chap 4! Ps. I might be writing chapters every other day usually because A. I'm so excited to write this thing, and B. I don't have a lot to do rn. But I will, and when school starts...*shiver* let's not go there. Thx!**


	4. Chapter 4

** ️ Warning for potty words and violence️ **

Theo leaned over the table to press the button on the star map. A blue hologram of a green planet appeared.

"So this" Theo said. "Is Kao."

Everyone nodded.

"From my experience on this planet," Loki said, an image of him talking. "It isn't a very pleasent one. Which is why we mustn't fool around. This place is very dangerous, with vile beings such as slave masters to assassins. And not to mention the thugs. So we all are going to follow my plan even if you don't want to, am I clear."

The 3 murmered in agreement, hopefully, while Julian microscopically nodded.

"Ok," Loki said. "I was think that while me and my group run out that Theo and Griff can guard the ship."

Both boys shrugged,

"Sure," Griff agreed.

"Don't. Trust. Anybody. I will be watching," warned Loki.

Griff's eyebrows knit together.

"Seidr," Theo explained.

Griff let out a small "oh."

"So that leaves me and Julian," Sara said.

"Yes, indeed," Loki said. "You both will be coming with me. Best to look like a family."

"In my opinion," said Griff, smirking. "They look literally nothing like you. Theo looks more like you than anyone."

Loki shot him a glare, but quickly looked over at Theo to see if he was watching. He was staring into space, literally.

"Ok," Sara said, clearing the tension. "When will we be docking."

"Uh," said Theo, now out of his daze. "About 4 minutes."

Image Loki sat down on a bench and ran a hand through his hair. His seidr was at a fair amount, enough to keep his image on him for a couple of hours and to continue healing his neck. Maybe for a little extra. So why was he feeling nervous. They were just here for a quick pit stop, in and out, as always. Still, he couldn't shake the sense that something was wrong.

"You okay," said Sara, looking down at him with concern.

"I'm fine," he said.

Sara nodded, not looking convinced and walked over to Julian who was sitting in the corner and staring out the window at the nearing green planet. His expression was calm but his eyes...was he feeling this too? Loki seriously doubted it but some part of him still wondered. Who was this boy?

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The ship landed in a wide alley with a clank. Everyone stood up and looked out the windows. There wasn't much to look at.

"Aw, this place is horrible. You can smell it in here too."

"Believe me, it gets worse," Loki said.

Everyone groaned.

"Julian," Sara called. "Come on, we're going."

Julian stood up and trodded over to Sara's side, taking her hand.

"Alright, dont trust anyone, remember. No letting anyone in the ship, no LEAVING the ship. Don't attract attention. Do this and you should be fine."

The boys nodded.

"Alright let's go, I think I have enough credits for the fuel, food, water, and air refill," said Loki, grasping onto Julian's other hand, and walking out of the ships rear entrance.

The boys watched them go.

"Now what," said Theo, closing the ships entrance.

"I don't know," said Griff. "I can't believe he left us _here, _while the girl and her special brother get to go."

"Griff, He's not special. He just..."

"He what?"

"Look," said Theo slowly. "He's young, and he's experienced a lot already. You can blame him, his childhood is gone."

Griff sighed,

"Doesn't mean I wouldn't speak for the rest of my life."

"He probably has his reasons, and you do too."

"For what."

"For being a fucking spaz all the time."

"_Hey!" _yelled Griff playfully.

"It's true, your literally bouncing on your seat all day long, waiting for any sign of a ball to play with," said Theo, trying to stifle his laughter.

"So..." said Griff embarrassed. "A-At least I'm not up stalking Sara all day."

At this, Theo stopped laughing.

"What?"

"Yeah, don't think I don't notice you looking at her."

"I don't."

"Yeah, you do."

"Okay, so maybe I do, so what."

"I don't know."

"Ya know," Theo said, looking away from Griff to his his blush. "I've seen you look at her too."

"Whatever, maybe I have."

"Then why'd you point it out on me dude?"

"I DONT KNOW, OKAY?!?"

"Jeez, you don't need to fricken scream, dumbass."

"Hey, shut up would ya."

"Whatever," said Theo, rolling his eyes.

"It's not like she'd want you anyways," muttered Griff.

"EXCUSE ME?"

"What?"

"What did you say?"

"What do you mean?"

"What you just said!"

"I don't-"

"What you just said, Griff! Say it! Out loud!"

Griff mumbles something furiously.

"I can't HEAR YOU!"

"I SAID SHE WOULDNT WANT YOU ANYWAYS, YOU DEAF IDIOT!!!"

"Why," said Theo, surprisingly calm but still glaring. "Give me three good reasons that she wouldn't want me."

"Fine! You're nerd, you're annoying, and you're g-" Griff's mouth snapped shut, his expression saying clearly, _oh shit. _

"I'm what Griff? What am I?"

"Gay, your gay! Don't deny it, you are. And everyone knows it!"

Theo stared at Griff,

"Are you fucking serious right now."

"YES!!!"

"You think I'm gay."

"Yeah!"

"Well youre a dumbass then."

Griff scowled,

"I probably am."

"YOU ARE! Your the dumbest thing I've come across, your in between a stick and a crayon. And their intelligence is quite close to yours."

"Shut up!"

"No, I won't shut up. I won't. I-I" Theo struggled to continue, hating how he was so bad at comebacks while Griff was quite smooth with them.

"You'll what?"

Theo scowled,

"I hate you."

"I'm beginning too."

"Great, just what we need. Another big fight between the small nerd right here and the big son of a bitch next to him, and guess what, in space too. Oh my gosh, if you're mother could see you no-"

Theo regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. In a flash, he was pinned up against the walls of the ship, the threat of Griff's meaty fists looming above his face. Griff leaned in, pupils feral, almost in slits, like an animal. An animal.

"Don't. You. EVER. Talk. About. My. Mother. Like. That. EVER! It's ruining her memory." He whispered, spit hitting Theo's face.

He tried to stop the words coming out but they wouldn't stop,

"The only thing that's ruining her memory is you, asshole. Bet she wishes she still had a smart son, or even a realtive, like, oh, Anthony, too bad he's gone, guess she's gonna have to go fuck some guy in an alley or a dumpster to get a kid that's anything but mentally retarded with your genes. Not like you're any better." This

Pain exploded across his face.

Theo yelped and yelled,

"WHAT THE HELL!"

But stopped when he saw Griff's face.

It was red and livid, his features all scrunched up angrily, but...tears were pouring down his cheeks. He must have hit too hard. Instead of Griff's face, all he was met with was another meaty fist to his nose.

"FUCK. YOU!" Griff yelled, adding another two punches to his sides with the ones to his face.

And so, Griff continued to beat up Theo, as much as he tried to get out of it, he failed, miserably. Griff poured all of his rage, his sorrow, and his pain into each blow to Theo's body. Eventually, Theo stopped fighting, tears pouring down his cheeks too. And with Theo, Griff stopped punching. And got up.

"I told you...before. Don't talk about...them. Just don't," said Griff, sniffling.

Walking away to the bathroom, he left Theo's still body alone and defenseless to all the regret and misery that was pounding at him, from the inside.

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The market place was busy today. It was bustling with shoppers of all races and kinds, all running around everywhere causing chaos. Every once in a while, there was a fight or something, but it was quickly stopped by the irritated vendors.

Loki grabbed little Julian's hand as he weaved through the shopper's ocean, looking back every once in a while to make sure they were still connected.

He first went to get fuel at a fuel vendor.

To his surprise, the vendor gave him a fair price. Loki would've thought that with such few customers and a horrid looking shop like his, or it's, Loki would say, that looked like it would crumble down at any given moment that he would enforce a larger price. But no.

The trio swerved through the busy marketplace picking out things they needed as they went. Soon after, more like forever to Loki, who had never really been a big shopper, they finally finished. Loki, with a flick of his hand and a tiny bit of seidr, teleported the supplies back to the ship, with hope that the boys were still there to collect them.

A sudden grumble coming from beside him caught his attention. Julian's big green eyes were staring right up into his when he looked beside him.

"What? Are you alright?"

Julian shrugged.

Seeing Loki's look of concern, she said,

"It's okay, he's just hungry. Haven't you ever heard someone's stomach growl."

Loki shook his head,

"You and the people you live with aren't very hungry growing up in a castle, and city, made of gold. That and I think mortals digestive systems are different than us gods."

Loki continued,

"We should get some food, I still have a few credits left."

"Sounds good," Sara said. "C'monJules."

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The restaurant was small and dirty and the quality of the meal wasn't the best, but it was filling nonetheless. Julian seemed to enjoy it plenty though. Sara however...well, at least she ate a little. Loki could tell it was only because she was either being polite or she was dead hungry. He didn't blame her either way.

"You ready," asked Sara, who'd just come back from the restroom.

"Yes," said Loki. "Let us return to the ship and pray that the boys didn't destroy it while we were gone."

"Ehh, I know them, they wouldn't do something like that. At least not now in this situation."

"I sure do hope so."

Sara nodded, agreeing.

They had just stepped out of the restaurant when several voices started yelling out from a few feet away. They were cries. Cries of terror. Julian instantly tensed beside him when the building in front of them go up in flames. Interesting.

Loki was about to take another step forward when he saw a familiar pair of black clothed aliens standing in the middle of the street, large guns in hand. _Dear Norns, not now. _One of the aliens eyes met his, making them go wide as he rapidly shook his partners shoulder. _Shit._

Loki quickly picked up Julian, placing him on his hip, and grabbing onto Sara's hand before sprinting off. They needed to go, fast.

Loki and the kids were far down the road when they heard the ATV's. _No no no no no._

He could hear Sara asking him what was wrong and why they were running, but he was too breathless to answer. Just a couple more blocks. A couple more.

Rapid gun fire hit the pavement as they ran. Both Julian and Sara were screaming as they were rugged along. Julian, the poor kid, was sobbing his eyes out into Loki's coat. _Sorry._

Loki took the kid off his hip and gave him to Sara.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WE NEED TO MOVE!!!" She cried.

"We need to live!" Said Loki.

Using his seidr, he conjured up an image of him hiding with the kids and making themselves disappear. He finished just in time, as the ATV's rolled around the corner.

"Come on," he called to Sara. "We need to move, now!"

And they began to run, Loki limping a tiny bit thanks to the seidr loss, and kept running until they heard the voice.

"STOP!"

They froze. Loki internally groaned, _these idiots again._

"YOU ARE TO SLIDE TO THE GROUND, SLOWLY AND REMOVE ANY AND ALL WEAPONS ONTO THE GROUD!"

The kids looked at him, fear present in their eyes. Loki nodded at them and did what he asked. It was better when dealing with them to do what they want the first time. Then strike back.

Sara and Julian slid to the ground, Julian still crying, just more quietly.

"OK, NOW ANY AND ALL MOVEMENTS YOU MAKE WILL BE TRIED AGAINST YOU IN THE FUTURE!" Loki was zoned out at this point, he'd heard this MANY times before. "YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST FOR LEAVING A CRIME SCENE, YOU ARE NOW ALL SUSPECTS OF THE FIRE. I REPEAT, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR THE-"

The police alien-officer fell to the ground, the back of his head a bloody mess. Sara screamed but Julian just sat there, staring. The other officers that were there all pulled out their guns and tazers, but were all shot to the ground like the first one.

When they were all gone, dark figures slipped out from cracks in the alleys and rooftops. They all stood in a circle, almost like a barrier. _To tell us that we're trapped, and that there's no way we can get out. Not this time, not ever._

From the shadows, out stepped a tall alien. He was ugly, very ugly, and blue with a long nose and a ever constant frown. But it was his eyes that were scary. They were blood red, the color of all the people's blood that he'd murdered mercilessly. He was a monster. A smart one though.

Loki seethed

"_Xaire."_

Xaire stood in front of Loki and the kids and smiled when he saw their fear. And then he looked right into Loki's eyes and soul with those monstrous eyes. Loki was terrified, absolutely terrified, though he'd never let anyone know that. Especially not _him. _

The blue alien smirked,

"Well, well, Well, What have we got here. Isn't this familiar."

_He means last time. _Loki rolled his eyes, the ego of this monster.

He then looked at Loki again, smiling _genuinely _this time.

"God of Mischeif, boy have we been looking for you. And with extra too," he said, sizing up the kids. Loki protectively drew his arm out, something that went not unnoticed by the criminals.

"Boys, if you please."

"Gladly," said a maroon creature, stepping out of the crowd, a few goons in tow, weapons in hand.

The last thing he remembered was Sara's scream and Julian's wide, frightened eyes before everything, including the image of him made via seidr, slipped away.

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Back on the ship, the silence was deafening. Both boys sat in the same room, by force.

Griff had flooded the bathroom, _somehow, _and now they were stuck in the one big room together unless he wanted to get wet. He didn't. Maybe he really was stupid.

Griff, whose tears had now dried, looked out the windows, avoiding Theo's apologetic looks and just avoiding Theo himself. He didn't have the patience to deal with him right now. He just wanted Loki to come back, and Julian, and Sara. He just wanted everything to go back to normal. To get off this planet. Away, far away from here. He just wanted to go home, even if there wasn't much to go back to.

His thoughts were interrupted by Theo, who had mustered up the balls to finally talk to him.

"It's getting kinda late, shouldn't they be back by now."

He ignored him.

Theo rolled his eyes and got up from his perch on the newly arrived groceries,

"I'm going to find them."

"Loki said not to get out of the ship," Griff argued as Theo's words sunk in. "You could get yourself killed."

"So could they."

"When did you start caring about other people."

He stared at him for a second,

"I always have."

"That's bull."

Theo looked slightly hurt at that for a second but shrugged it off to a slightly irritated expression.

"I'm going anyways, I don't really care about what you think."

"You care, your guilty because I think bad of you now. You still care, weirdly."

Theo stared at him again,

"I really am sorry-"

"Whatever."

"You know I'm still gonna go, I'm only telling you if you want to come with me."

Griff rolled his eye.

"Fine!" He snapped. "But if we die, I'm going to kill you."

Theo rolled his eyes again and opened the ship door to see an old man standing there.

"Can I help you sir?" Theo said.

The old man smiled than reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at the two of them. Both of the boy's mouths fell open.

"Oh yes," said the old man, more people suddenly taking form behind him. "I think you can."

Griff gulped, rubbing a hand down his face. _Where are you Loki?_

_**Chapter 4! Wooo! Sorry it took so long, I've just been busy. And sorry if the dialogue is bad, lol I've always been bad at roasts. Constant hockey practices and the Fourth of July (happy bday USA!) have just been taking up all of my time. And not to mention homework, UGHHH! Anyways, I finished it! Yah...**_

_**Okay so I'll try to get Chapter 5 done ASAP, next week is supposed to be calm ig. Also, THIS IS HUGE FOR THE STORY! So this story has a lot coming for it with like so little time, hence Infinity War's like 2 day travel. So were gonna expand that to like 2 more weeks give or take. It will work I promise. Thx!**_


	5. Chapter5

Loki woke with a start, jerking up only to be stopped by metal chains on his chest, and rope bindings on his wrists. _What the hell, _he thought, but then remembered everything when he felt the searing pain at the back of his head. Using his seidr, he instantly used it to look for the kids' life forms.

To his relief, they were near.

Alive.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and looked around the dark cell he was currently placed in to look for them. His relief was quickly vanished when he found that only Julian, staring at him with his bright green eyes, expression filled with fear, was in the cell. And that they were not alone.

Xaire stood outside of his cell with his usual smirk on his face, staring down at him like he was nothing but a little insect he could step on, holding Sara on a _leash, _next to him.

_Well, damn._

"Loki...it's been awhile, hasn't it?"said Xaire, voice laced with mock and malice.

Loki glared at him, gag strapped over his mouth, _again, _preventing him from speaking. Not like he could really anyways.

"Yes, well, look," said Xaire, stil smirking but his face filled with less _joy. _"I'm not here to just chat, God of Mischeif, we need some answers."

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"So," Xaire continued, ignoring Loki completely. "We are going to remove the gag, so you can speak, and you will tell us everything we need to know. And then everything will be okay again." _Damn him._

He was not dull. He knew Xaire enough to know that he never kept his promises, not like it was much of a promise anyways. He was sparing the children anxiety, not life, and while it was better this way, he supposed, in the end it will all be the same. Dead, dead, dead.

Some aliens that had been behind Xaire during his speech, probably thinking they were completely invisible to the god, stepped forward. _They must think I'm an idiot, and even after last time too_. If you're going to survive, you always have to look for an escape plan. Loki's number one rule to life. It always works, and helped Loki see the enemy by the walls, though, he really didn't have to look hard did he? Even if it means killing all the beings on the ship was something that Loki would, happily, do right now to get him and the kids away from here. Far away.

They were unlocking the cell when Sara suddenly yelled out,

"It's useless to take it off. He can barely speak, his throat...was damaged severely."

If looks could kill. He mentally groaned. He was in for it now.

But the monsters barely glanced her way and continued the task of unlocking the cage.

A single alien was using a screwdriver to remove his gag while all its other buddies were just standing there doing nothing. He smirked, _easy. _Kicking out his leg, which was stupidly free from binds, he tripped the alien working on his gag, and grabbed the screwdriver mid air as the alien dropped it, and began to microscopically cut the rope on his hand. The other aliens growled and turned on their tasers with a "_zap."_

"Drop tool" said an alien with very bad English.

Loki ignored them and continued to cut his binds his hands. The more he got done now, the less he'd have to do later.

"Drop the screwdriver," said another alien with better English."

Smiling, Loki glances towards the guard, lifted up his hand that was now free, just enough for him to lift his hand and not be caught free and give the alien the finger.

The alien snarled, loading his gun, and was about to fire when Xaire's voice echoed through the chamber.

"Javori, stop. He needs to be conscious to give us the answers we need, doesn't he? Besides, he doesn't know what he's answering for anyways. Or should I say, who?"

Javori rolled his very red eyes, slapped Loki across the face, and stormed away with his comrades in tow.

Loki's head whipped towards Xaire as he realized what he was saying, and almost screamed at what he saw. Sara was up again the monster, a knife to her throat, his hand around her waist, too near her nether regions. _No no no no no. _This wasn't happening.

As if he could read his mind, Xaire smirked.

"Better start talking, trickster."

The gag was yanked off of him.

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"For the millionth time," Theo sobbed. "We don't know where they are. They left to get food a few hours ago, and haven't returned yet and we were really worried and they haven't got back and-"

A clean slap was delivered to his already bruised face.

"Ow."

"Stop your blubbering boy, it ain't doin' us no good. Besides, you're not even in trouble, for Pete's sake." sighed the old man.

Theo mumbled an apology and stared at the ground trying to stop his flow of tears.

The old man then turned to face towards Griff.

"I'm guessing you have a similar story to his, huh?"

"Yeah."

The old man scratched his chin. Looking back to the other people in the room, he said,

"Any idea where they could've gone."

"No, sir, they only said they were going to the market. Besides, we don't have another ship, and they already sent back the supplies so it wouldn't make sense that they were gone unless they were..."

There was a silence.

"Taken," Theo said quietly, fear quickly taking over his now less teary features as the words settled in.

"Hmm," said the old man, still scratching his chin "From what I know, Loki isn't one to get captured. Tricky little thing he is. Not as strong as his brother, but tricky, and smarter too. Outsmarted my whole crew once, stealin' all our stuff, including our ship. Nasty little shit he is. But tricky."

There was a small silence as everyone thought about this.

After about three minutes of thinking, a small alien from the middle of the cluster that is the "crew" shouted out,

"Do ya think it's them."

All eyes turned to him.

"Who?" Said the old man, narrowing his eyes.

"That...that gang of thieves and drunks and thou who are no good. They've always had a grudge against him, from what I've heard. I don' know why but they have. An' I heard talk saying they were here for the equinox."

Confusion was evident on everyone's faces.

Except one.

"Aw yeah," said another alien. "Them I know. With all the bandits and stuff, they robbed Robbie's," a few people snickered. "Anyways, they're run by the guy, uhh, Zaire I think."

The old man's eyes flew open.

"Of course. It's obvious now."

Voices immediately began to crowd the room.

"What is?" asked Theo, face still full of confusion, but now completely dry of tears. Griff couldn't say that he probably looked any different.

The old man's gaze flickered over to Theo, and he held up his hand.

The room went silent.

"Loki," he said. "Is not who you think he is kid. Or at least, he used to be."

"What do you mean?" Asked Griff, eyes narrowing.

"I don't know him very well, but I already told you, I know him enough. I'm sure he'll tell you about it later when we get him."

Both boys still looked confused. Rolling his eyes, the old man sighed,

"Don't think about that now. Think about helping us get him and your friends out. That's the priority."

"Wait," said Theo, still and even _more _confused. "We're gonna help."

"Yes," said the old man. "Everything in this universe has a price. Money, work; food, money, yeah. You want your friends and Loki back, you better work for it. And for that, we let you go, but on the price of a promise. Don't screw up. We're not very forgiving. And don't think we're even. Once we get your friends back, we'll figure that out later."

The boys just stared at him.

"So you in or what?"

The old man just had to spare a glance at the boys to tell that they were in. He smiled.

"Welcome to the crew, boys. You can call me Mace. I'll have some people show you around, but first let's get these off 'ya."

Both boys nodded, both still lost in their thoughts, as the men on the ship untied their bonds. The both got up brushing of some spit, dirt, and small tears before walking over to Mace, who was huddled around a big group of people.

"Alright folks," he said, once Theo and Griff had joined them. "We got some work to do."

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Sara's screams echoed throughout the entire compound, down each hallway, in each room. Never seeming to end or get quieter. Each scream only boosted Loki's regret and guilt for A. Dragging them into this, and B. refusing to answer. He only felt worse whenever he glanced at Julian. He tried to avoid doing that as much as possible.

Shifting a little in his seat, he tried to move his hands up to his ears to block the sound, but the restraint on the right hand was firm and he couldn't move his left hand much since the guards or Julian could see. But what was Julian gonna do?

He sighed, _Julian._

Looking back, little Julian was curled into a tiny ball in the corner, crying his eyes out. And he wasn't being very quiet about it either. But Loki didn't blame him. He knew what it was like to watch a sibling be in pain. For them to be their only one left.

He sighed again. He was going to kill these bastards. Just they wait, he would. And he would show no mercy. Never again. Not for these men, not for Xaire, not for Thanos and all his army. Because he was done being tossed around. Absolutely done. And he was gonna do something about it.

But for now, he had other matters to attend to.

Before the captors had left with Sara, they'd forgotten to replace gag. Quietly, he whispered to the crying boy,

"Julian?"

Julian lifted his head microscopically, his red puffy green eyes that were full of tears meeting Loki's anxious and alert green ones, before breaking the stare harshly and returning to sobbing in the corner.

"Julian," he tried again.

Julian lifted his head and glared at Loki, but wasn't able to keep his expression long before he broke into another sob.

Loki bit his lip and took his free hand and motioned him to come over. _Here we go, _He thought. _Norns please help him comfort this boy. _

Slowly, the boy crept over to Loki, eyes never leaving his like Loki was going to do something again, until he was right next to him on the floor, not tied up at all. The enemies had thought he wasn't a threat. Well, they weren't wrong.

His teary gaze met Loki's again, and another sob fell out of his mouth, which eventually led to an abundance of sobs wracking his body, one by one. Loki put his free hand on his back as he allowed a few tears to fall down his pale face. She didn't deserve this, not Sara, kind, loving Sara. Nobody did.

The boy leaned his head against Loki's thigh, tears still flowly down his face, startling Loki for a second by his trusting action, before relaxing and threading and hand through his chestnut hair. Surprisingly, it felt natural. Taking a deep breath to control his voice and using seidr to make sure his neck was fairly supported, he rasped out,

"She will be okay."

He looked up at him, eyes more hollow than an Old Sapwood tree. Loki felt himself draw in a breath. Julian then looked towards the ground, bent down a bit, and wrote on the dusty dirt floor with his tiny finger,

_No, she won't. She never will be. Neither will I. Ever again._

Loki looked towards Julian, his hollow eyes too old to be his, his sunken face filled with fear, his thin body, his tear streamed face. He looked too old to be 8. He pitied him, for he knew that Julian had already lost his childhood far too early. But something told him that it wasn't just this that made it this way.

The agonizing screams continued. A wail rose out of Julian and Loki resumed in carding his hand through his hair, quietly humming a soothing tune. He had to do something, anything. He would break if he didn't...though. Loki tried to distract him.

"You know," he said, praying that this was the right thing to say to a crying child. "Back on Asgard, me and Thor were never like you and Sara when we were growing up. We would always argue but at the end of the day, we would be inseparable as always."

Julian merely glanced at him, seeming to sob harder at the mention of his sibling. Loki, feeling a pang in his chest when he mentioned Thor, quickly

Realizing that talking wasn't really gonna work, he took a bit of his seidr out of healing his neck and made a few sparkles fly around into the air.

Julian, even though he was in the middle of a sob session, looked fascinated.

Loki felt himself smile,

"Pretty huh?"

Slowly, Julian lifted up his hand and touched each of the sparkles, one by one, wonder never leaving his eyes. If Loki looked deep inside those hollow eyes, he thought he could see a tiny spark somewhere in them. Evidence of life.

Julian then looked at him, a ghost of a smile on his tear stained face.

_Yes, _he wrote. _Pretty._

He then held up his hand. Nothing happened.

Loki looked at him confused.

"What?" He said.

Julian shrugged, sniffling, and took his hand down. But for a split second before, Loki could've sworn he saw tiny light, a pinch of it, though it was still there. For what seemed like the thousandth time already, Loki felt himself think again,

_Who was this kid?_

His thoughts were interrupted by Xaire walking into the room, his clothes and hair a mess.

He smirked, brushing off his clothes mockingly.

"Now that was fun, my friend. Too bad you couldn't have joined us. Bet you would've had a good time too."

It was then that Loki snapped.

**So that was chapter 5! This took awhile to write since I'm beginning to go onto writers block, I literally couldn't think of anything for awhile this week. Ughhh! It makes me crazy when this happens. And to think I have to write my essay this week too. Worst time ever. I've also been really busy with friends and everything so...yah.**** Anyways, thx for reading and yeah. Chapter 6 will be along soon, it might be longer because of RB, but I'll think of something. Thx again!**


	6. Chapter6

The new cell Loki been dragged into was spacious and rather bright compared to the other gloomy cell. It was cleaner, and more modern, a relief and a curse for him. But, nonetheless, even if they put him in a better cell, he still wanted them to suffer. A lot.

Sighing, Loki leaned back into restraints attached to his new sturdier chair they'd put him into. For someone who for most of his life begged for silence he had to admit it wasn't very pleasant. The silence was deafening, seemingly making this feel cell even smaller than it was. Or...maybe that was just Loki.

Maybe he was slowly going insane. He didn't doubt it. Or maybe he already is. Thinking back to it, he definitely had reasons. From his childhood, to learning he was a Frost Giant, to falling off the rainbow bridge, to falling into Thanos' clutches, to New York, to his mother's death, to his reign as All-Father (which wasn't bad, but he'd never honestly felt so alone in his long, godly life, except for now of course) to his fathers death, and Hela, and the destruction of Asgard and most of its people, or all to be honest, to the ship with the goddamm giant purple grape breaking his fucking neck, losing Thor, again, and landing on the ship with the four fucking kids who'd he barely knew. But...couldn't live without. The fact that he got any sleep at all from PTSD and nightmares was a wonder. Or maybe... that was just Loki.

The door of the cell opened with a _swish, _and in stepped Xaire, his casual smirk replaced with a grim frown, something uncommon on his ghastly face. He looked untidy and exhausted, as if he hadn't gotten any sleep (he probably didn't) He rolled his eyes.

"What's the matter, Xaire?" Loki drawled as he stepped into the room. "Feelin' a bit down in the dumps today." He said that last part with malice dripping from his words. He wanted so much right now to grab him and rip out his throat and make him suffer those agonizing 2 minutes of not being able to breath and choke on his blood. He wanted him to _feel _it, to live it. And then die, and go rot in the deepest darkest pit of Hel. That's what he wanted, so that's what he'd get...soon.

Xaire rolled his bloodshot eyes and choked out,

"I have no time for fun and games today, Trickster. And neither do you."

Loki snorted. Xaire ignored him

"Where..." said Xaire, slowly, making every word sink in like a dagger to skin. "Is. The. Titan?"

"Probably attacking Earth, like I said before. He wouldn't be, however, if you let me go," Loki said, half-interested and half picking at his cubicles. He'd said this a million times before, why can't his tiny, dull mortal brain figure it out.

Xaire let out a roar. Loki felt the urge to facepalm with his still free hand. The stupidity of the guards for forgetting to strap it in AGAIN!

"I AM AWARE OF THAT! WHERE THOUGH?!? WHERE!?!"

Loki gave him a look that said, _do I give a shit? _

"Do you think I know the slightest thing about where he is? You think that's my top priority right now? If you do your wrong. That would be skipping over my worries of Thor, over my kingdom, my ship, MY KIDS!" He said boldly. Where this sudden protectiveness over the kids had come from, he knew not. Maybe he was truly going mad.

"You should be," Xaire said slowly, searching Loki's emerald orbs for anything.

"I know."

The silence was, yet again, deafening.

"She's gone, Xaire. He took her. Gone."

Xaire looked away, breaths coming more deeply, as if an attempt to control himself.

"Gone," he repeated, carefully as Xaire looked like he was about to snap. "Dead."

Xaire turned towards him.

"I will always look for her, murderer. You think I'm the monster, but you have yet to see yourself."

"I did not kill her. It was the Titan. How else do you think he broke me into attacking New York."

"Liar," Xaire seethed, now scrutinizing Loki's every action. "You lie."

Loki kept his mouth shut.

Xaire, still calming himself down, turned back towards Loki, maroon eyes piercing into emerald ones.

"I ask of you, one thing Trickster-"

Loki scoffed,

"Seriously. You ask of me? You must be very desperate to-"

"Yes..." said Xaire, sighing, this wasn't very easy to do. "That you feel the pain she felt when you killed her, took from me, when I murder _them. _All those restless nights, those painful nightmares, all those hopes and dreams crushed, literally, by reality, every. Single. One...you ruined everything, trickster, everything. Deny it or not, I'm going to make sure you pay. All of you."

Loki shut his eyes tight. Maybe if he closed them hard enough he would forget everything, leave this cruel world behind, go back to when he was a mere child, holding onto his brother when he was scared of slight storms or something, not death and big godamn purple pricks and blue angry toothpicks. Thor holding him telling him it was alright, that everything would be okay again. Opening his eyes, he was met, once again, with Xaire's face. _Reality is often disappointing. _Thanos's words rang through his head like a chime. He'd said them before, when he was under this control. This one time, he would admit that he was right. It truly was.

Xaire started towards the door as he saw that Loki wasn't going to say anything more.

Before he reached the door, Loki called,

"You won't get away with this, Xaire. I'll kill you, make you suffer. I am a God, you mere mortal. Just you wait."

Xaire just smirked,

"Looking forward to it."

He gave a mock bow before leaving the cell, leaving 

Loki processing what had just happened. He sighed, lifting his head, eyes widening at what he saw.

The guards who had been keeping watch over him had apparently followed Xaire out the dungeon. Thinking about it, it was rather close to lunch time. Idiots thinking with their stomachs instead of their brains, Loki wanted to slap that smirk off of Xaire face right now. Especially when he found out he was fooled, once again, by the God of Mischeif.

Peeling away the image of himself in the chair, he looked around at his now rather dirty cell. Loki stood up from the corner, laughing his ass off, but not loud enough to attract attention. He felt glorious.

Stepping over the deceased, and slightly mutilated guards bodies, blood staining the floor tiles a deep burgundy, he used his fully restored seidr to crack the lock on his cell. It was almost too easy. _Too easy. _

Making himself invisible, he slipped out of the dungeons, looking left and right to make sure he was alone, before jogging silently off in the other direction.

_Now, _he thought. _Time to show this blue son of a bitch not to mess with Gods. And their...friends? Yes._

He just shook his head, pushing the thought aside, no idea if he still qualified to be their friend when he'd pulled them all into this. He'd just reached the main hall of the fortress when an alarm blared out across the massive hall.

Five guards ran out of the opposite entrance. Crap. Summoning his daggers, which he was pretty sure he'd left on the ship, and dropping his invisibility, he burst toward the first guard. ready to attack.

Or at least, that was the plan.

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Julian was worried. Very worried. So worried his tiny brain couldn't get off the fact that Loki might be dead or dying somewhere is this hell.

Pacing around, he spared a glance at Sara, who was currently curled up in the corner, head in her hands, trembling, and dead silent (sorta) since they let her go. Since Loki was taken.

Every now and then, Julian thought he could hear slight murmers and mumbles emitting from Sara, but no words, or so he could tell, which made him feel horrible. And scared. And desperate. He wanted to help her, so so badly, but he didn't know how. He didn't even know what happened to her. He wanted to break down and sob and probably sleep for a week right now. But thinking this made him feel a slight pang of guilt.

This must be the feeling Sara has felt after they died, trying to stay positive but failing when she looks apon her little brother. Her _special _little brother, as Griff placed it. I'm nothing but a nuisance, look where we are now. Look where Loki is. If he hadn't come, they wouldn't be here now.

He groaned. Why must he always be a problem? No. _The _problem.

Putting his head into his hands, mirroring Sara, he began to quietly sob again, like he'd learned to do so well in these past couple of months. Sorta.

Julian yelped when a sharp alarm rang around the cell room. Whipping his head from side to side to see the possible threat, he was met with a pair of hazel eyes looking into his green ones.

From the corner of his eye, he'd thought he'd saw Sara shift a bit, alarmed as well by the new arrival. Sighing, he tried to keep his hopes down, knowing it was probably just another one of the bad guys again.

The man standing in the doorway gawked.

"Oh my...what the hell happened to you guys?"

Both Julian and Sara's heads shot up, but only Julian raced up to the man, frantically pointing at the lock to the cell. The man seemed to understand, but looked confused as to why he wasn't speaking. Curse his knotted tongue.

Sara hadn't moved from her spot. Julian was very worried by now.

The man with the hazel eyes came running over and, with the butt of his blaster, began to pound at the lock. For some strange reason, there were no guards in the room. Probably all guarding Loki. Loki...he would have to inform the man about him after. But still, Julian couldn't help but feel a little bit unnerved. He sighed and pushed aside the thought, focused on leaving this damned cell, and looked back to the man.

After multiple beatings, the now destroyed lock finally gave in and split in half, opening the cell door.

With a. grand smile on his face, Julian ran back, the man in tow, over to Sara. Julian began to tug Sara's arm furiously, signaling that they needed to leave, and grunted, frustrated by her lack of movement. When she didn't move after 5 minutes, he looked over to guard who was talking into his radio, a thousand pleas spurring inside of him, unsheaded tears ready to blow the house. They locked eyes and the man understood immediately, putting down his radio, and bending down to this length.

"Maybe you should say something to her," he said, softly.

"It'll be okay."

Julian just stared blankly at him. What was he supposed to say, or in his case, do?

All of a sudden, his guilt came back like a boomerang (#jojo Siwa fanclub lmao jk) and he glanced at Sara's folded frame.

He wracked his brain of things to say. To his growing frustration, nothing came to mind. He sighed. This was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be. But he knew he had to try anyways.

_Here we go, _he thought, once he had scrambled something together to say. _Please, God, or Gods, now, let me help Sara. Please._

Taking a deep breath and mentally preparing himself, he opened his mouth and was about to loosen the knot when he was interrupted by the sudden stream of incoming soldiers from the dungeon doors, all wearing the same uniform that the man wore. _Oh. We're safe. Safe. _He breathed a sigh of relief, they could go home. _Home. _

A few men brought a stretcher over and carefully lifted Sara onto it, and strapped her in with ease. They began to wheel her away to God knows where when Julian realized what they were doing and broke free from the man's grip, something he had not noticed due to the commotion, on his arms, and zipped to Sara's side, ignoring the shouts of protest and warning from other soldiers.

"Son," called the man, who was now at his side once again. "Son, maybe you should stay back here, wait-"

He rapidly shook his head, no. He wasn't going to leave Sara. Never again. Even if he was to die, he still wouldn't leave. He owed it to her. And he would stick by it to the end of his days. Always.

The soldiers must have seen the desperate look in his green eyes before one paramedic sighed and said.

"Jump onto the end. Quickly. We have to leave immediately."

They had rolled into the main corridor when they stumbled apon a circle of guards surrounding a lone figure. As soon as they had entered the hall, the passage in which they came through was blocked off by metal doors. They were trapped. _No! _

The circle turned towards them. He immediately felt a slight wave of relief wash through him when he recognized the man. Loki, he wanted to tell, you're okay. He wanted to dance, yet he wanted to cry at the same time. Huh, space is weird.

When Loki looked up and saw them enter, his face became more relaxed, relieved, for a short moment before it was pulled away into horror as soon he saw Sara, strapped to the stretcher, and as more guards came seeping into the room. Surrounding them all.

From what he learned from Loki about tight situations and from his own experiences, they were screwed. Severely.

A man dressed in all black leather, blue from head to toe, walked out of the mass that was the opposing army. His fear shot upwards when he recognized him as Xaire, looking a bit too smug to be human. But then again, he was an alien.

Walking with a slight skip in his step, Xaire started towards Loki first, who was still surrounded by the trio, looking ready to attack at any given moment.

"Too bad Trickster." Xaire mocked. "Too bad indeed. And to think that you and your pathetic lot might actually get away...again." Xaire tsked.

Loki let out something that was in between a growl and a roar. He looked furious, and he wasn't even trying to hide it. If he was Xaire, he would back of right now. Xaire didn't even flinch.

"Let." Loki said slowly, trying to keep his patience (and rage, but kinda failing at that) under control. "Them. Go. You don't need them anyways. Just have me, like you've always wanted."

Julian wanted to scream. No! He can't do that. He can't leave them, not now! How would they get home? How would they...Damn tongue, no!

At the lack of objections from the crowd, Xaire looked, if possible, even more smug.

"Nice friends you got there, _God of Mischeif." _Xaire sneered at the last part.

"Well, at least I still have some," he bit back.

"Yes. For now," drawled Xaire. Julian felt fear, and that same damn feeling that something was wrong, very wrong here, creep up him again at his words. What else could he mean? He had all of us here? All of us except...

As if on cue, a few more guards entered the room dragging in four restrained figures.

Julian let out a cry when he recognized them and felt Sara tense up beside him. Oh. Dear lord, no.

The first two people that were dragged in Julian didn't know. But the third and fourth...fate must be punishing them right now. A bloodied Theo and Griff were pulled into the room and forced to their knees in front of Xaire, both looking tired and utterly deafeated. Everyone did.

How could they give up now? He thought, confused. They were almost out...they were...they-He felt anger rise in him when he felt his thoughts becoming harder to form. But his anger was quickly paused by Loki, who was holding up a hand.

_Stop, _it seemed to say. _Wait._

He cocked his head, confused once again. Wait for what?

At the corner of his eye, he saw a flicker of green by a nearby pole Oh. He almost laughed. Maybe he was truly the God of Mischeif after all.

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Xaire was deep into speech about how they were dull and brainless for thinking they could escape the _biggest and most powerful army in the galaxy_, and busy spilling his severely bloated ego. To busy to notice Loki's head occasionally popping out of his hiding place to check on things and put his plan into motion. The rest of Xaire's guards seemed to be in a similar situation, talking quietly and laughing at the other group, enjoying the praise from their master who doesn't give a damn about any of them.

Sneaking around the large pole, he went through the game plan he strategized of how this was going to work. He would make many copies of himself out of nowhere and catch them by surprise and then attack. He would make the copies spread out and make a split in the middle for the wounded, the rescue army and Julian to leave through. Then he and the remaining would fight, _win, _and leave this hellhole. He hoped it would work like that. He really, really, really did.

Using his still damaged Seidr, he made the image of himself speak vulgar insults to Xaire, attempting to make the icicle even more aggravated...and distracted. He had to just wait for the right moment, the right-

He was thrown off balence when he recieved a sharp jab by something hard and metal from behind. Losing his control of his seidr, everything fell to dust. His image collapsed and Xaire blinked, astounded that he got tricked...again. But regained his smirk, and pride, when he saw Loki lying on the floor, defenseless and clutching his side.

"Too bad indeed." He repeated in a murmur, drawing his spear dramatically. Loki's fear tripled when he saw this. If he wasn't so afraid for himself, his family, his people and the kids, and _many _many more, he would have just rolled his eyes at this. But to be honest, he had a lot of things on his mind. He couldn't leave now, he didn't even get to see Thor yet. It was unfair, so damn unfair. He didn't want...he just...he couldn't go. Not yet. Silently, he prayed to all the Norns, the gods that came to mind, his mother, Odin, the Warriors Three and Sif who were most likely in Valhalla by now, anyone...not now. Please, please, not now. Thinking how much time had changed, when he had almost nothing and wanted to leave the world and it's pain so badly before, to now when he had everything right in front of him and he never wanted to leave. Ever. Maybe Thor was right, life is worth living for, even on your worst days. Not like he'd tell him that anyways.

Xaire was over him now, spear looming directly over his heart.

"Goodbye Trickster. I'll make sure your brother hears of your death when I pay a visit to all those Midgardians, and all your _friends _too. Right before they die. And then-"

"Go to Hel," Loki seethed, not wanting to hear anymore before his death.

Xaire hmmed and sent him a mock look of pity before he raised the spear above his head and was about to impale him when-

A loud war cry filled the hall. Looking back on it, it was one of the finest and most hate filled one that Loki had ever heard in his long, long life.

Loki rubbed at his eyes when he saw the scene above him. Now...Loki had seen a lot of things, a lot of crazy things, and had done a lot of those crazy things but this...he couldn't believe his eyes. _Holy shit. _

Julian was in midair, legit floating in the air, and glowing bright light (only confirming Loki's suspicion of seeing the tiny spark a day before) screaming his tiny lungs out, face scrunched in anger. Xaire's men, stood, who shellshocked at the sight of him, were melting, as in, for example, like ice cream melting. Not all of them, but at least half before one screamed,

"Don't look!"

Loki took this as an opportunity to attack Xaire, summoning his daggers and stabbing right into his abdomen, smirking when he saw Xaire's face turn from shock to pain. How do you like that?

Xaire fell to the floor clutching his chest and conveniently rolled onto the side facing Julian, and began to melt. Loki grinned widely and ran into attack the remaining. Oh, what fun!

The room erupted into chaos. Guns firing everywhere, grenades exploding, people falling left and right. The majority of them the remaining of Xaire's army. Sure they had reinforcements, but they didn't really do must to help, as Julian was kinda destroying them.

He wasn't melting people anymore, he decided to switch to flying around shooting beams of light which disintegrated anything at contact, from specially armed solider to even the largest vehicle. Loki began to seriously wonder if he had this ability the whole time and was just hiding it or not.

This, to be honest, was one of the craziest thing Loki had ever been apart of. Ever. He couldn't wait to tell Thor about this, if he was still alive.

Loki took this and began to stab faster.

It could have been minutes or even hours, but the battle had finally ended. Xaire's army had been defeated. The soldiers looked over the remains of the deceased in their army, grieving occasionally for some who they'd lost, and the others. Loki's gaze turned toward a now disfigured Xaire, still on the floor, looking on the verge of passing out.

He walked over to him, eyes burning holes into the bloody pieces of what used to be his leather gear.

Xaire held up his one unmelted, yet still damaged, hand.

"Please...have mercy."

Loki rolled his eyes. Mercy? Who did he think he was?

He smirked when he saw Xaire's eyes full of fear, some stray tears spilling over his cheeks. Pathetic coward. Good thing, he knew just what to do with pieces of shit like him.

Summoning his dagger once again, he glanced at Xaire again, and said,

"You know this is going to get headlines, what you've done here. You and you're cronies, or what's left of them at least will be infamous. Criminals." Loki spit the last word out as if it were poisin.

Keep going, Loki thought. He's hooked now.

Xaire, still looking like a trainwreck, had nodded onto too all his words. Grinning bitterly, he said,

"That was the plan, minus the jail part."

"Yeah, well. Maybe I can fix that."

Xaire's eyes shot up,

"You can?"

Loki nodded, trying not to shiver at his hellish features. "Yes, I can."

Xaire suddenly looked grim.

"What's the price," he said. "There's always a price when it comes to you. What is it?"

Loki smirked even more. "I'll offer a bargain. You see, I let you go, you're free, gone, nobody will know it's you with you're new appearance. Set for life. But...when it does make headlines, and everybody starts noticing and looking for you, nobody will know it's you since you're not wearing your leather and logo, so that's the problem. Now I'm thinking, that, since you're 'oh so loyal' to you're gang, that maybe you could express it more. Like...permanently." Xaire's face turned to horror as he realized what Loki was saying. Loki twirled his dagger, now closer to Xaire than before. "So people can see that looks are deceiving. And see how much of a monster you really are. That you aren't normal, like them. I'm gonna give you a little something that, unlike leather and patches, you can never take off."

Loki motioned towards some remaining men nearby to hold him down. Xaire's eyes, wide and stained with tears, cried,

"Please, please don't do this, just let me die! Please..."

Loki tsked. "But what fun would that be, dear Xaire." And began to carve into his head, smiling throughout the whole time.

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"Loki!!!" The Theo and Griff screamed when they saw him appear near them and scrambled up from beside there perch beside Sara, bolted over and engulfed him in a slightly awkward, and tight in Loki's opinion, but mostly comforting hug.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, everything's gonna be okay." He promised, hugging them back, small tears spilling out of his green orbs onto his bloodied face. Everything was okay. Everything was fine.

Julian soon limped over, looking slightly nauseous, but otherwise fine with a couple of scratches, and a slightly swelled ankle. Before he did anything, Loki sent a wave of Seidr through Julian to check for any major injuries, and couldn't help but sigh with relief when there were none. For the next few moments, there was nothing but slightly uncomfortable silence. Loki couldn't help but stare in awe at the small, yet powerful child in front of him.The boy, when he realized he was just standing there staring, ran right over and joined the hug, sobbing his heart out.

They hugged for a little while, again mostly out of comfort and reassurance that _this _was real, only small bit of talking when needed, until Theo spoke out, voice worm from screaming and overuse, what seemed to be all on their minds.

"What the hell was that dude? You didn't tell me you had like sun ray, melting powers? How long did you know, or did you not? Or-"

"Don't scare him dude!" laughed Griff, though his laugh seemed quite forced. He didn't blame him, most 16 or 17 year old boys hadn't been through an alien battle yet. _Yet. _Something told him it was a bit more then that. He decided he would have to ask him about it later. But for now...

"Oh," Theo said, slightly embarrassed at his ramblings. "Sorry. But...did you?"

Julian, inserted in Loki's hip with a death grip on the God's waist, just shrugged and continued holding onto Loki for dear life. He didn't blame him. Not. At. All.

He smiled. Everything was going to be okay.

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Mace searched through the cluster of ships in the area, finally finding the ship that Loki and his wards had claimed.

Loki, who was sitting outside, helping the smallest child of his with the melting powers heal his wounds, caught his gaze and bolted upwards at the sight of him.

Immediate fear passed over his face and stepped in front of the boy in a sort of protective form. Mace almost raised an eyebrow at this act, still confused as to why Loki even fought on their side the other day, as to why he had kids with him at all, but...he sighed. Let him be confusing if he wants to be.

Mace held up his hands in a gesture to show Loki he wasn't threatening them. Loki relaxed a bit but still looked tense. He had a protective look in his eyes, something that dared him to harm them in any way at all, something Mace never thought he would see in the silvertongue. Maybe the boys were right when he first met them, maybe he did change.

"Mace," Loki greeted, eyes never leaving his.

"Loki." He replied, face set of stone.

They stood there in tense silence before Loki bent down to the young boy and whispered something into his ear. The boy quickly got up, and scurried inside the ship. He seemed relieved to leave the tense silence the adults were sharing. He chuckled at this.

Loki continued to look at him, searching his eyes, posture, everything. Looking for something. Anything.

"It's been awhile," he said, finally, though it was more of a sigh then anything.

"It has been," Mace agreed.

Loki nodded, seemingly deep in thought. Slowly, he swallowed (probably his pride) and said,

"Thank you."

His eyes widened in both confusion and utter awe that Loki, The God of Mischeif, and probably also Pride and Ego's, only to be matched by probably Xaire in that category, second heir of Asgard's, though not in blood, and first of Jotenheim, had just thanked him.

"For what?" He said, still in disbelief.

"Everything. Helping rescue us, and- not killing the boys. They told me everythi-" he cleared his throat. "Everything you and your people have done for us. I truly thank you. For everything."

Mace nodded again, _still _in shock of what had just happened.

"I know what your gonna say. Yes, Loki has come to some humility, and changed and...yes, yes. Finally. Well, I learned, Thor...and the kids, and...everything. They changed me. I-I don't know how, but they did. There's something about them, I don't know what though. And I've been trying to find out but...so far there's nothing. And I cannot repay them for that. Ever. No amount of gold or treasure or even a throne will ever be enough. Do you understand this, mortal?"

Mace nodded, searching him for any hint at all that he might be lying. And while he was a very good liar, hence the nickname, he spotted nothing. Nothing at all.

"And-" Loki continued. "I have caused you trouble in the past, and I will accept any punishment or fine or anything, anything at all, you wish in exchange for your help here, an-"

"You don't ever shut up do you?"

Loki looked up at him with bewilderment at being interrupted but quickly masked it and smirked, his casual smug expression on his face.

"I was considered the quiet one of the family."

Mace laughed a deep laugh before straightening up and giving him a small smile.

_"_You can go."

Loki gaped at him like a fish, not even bothering to hide his surprise at it.

"What?!?"

"You're free. You deserve it, I can tell. Believe me, you've made your mistakes, but...you've changed as you've said. And I doubt that they'll go anywhere without you." He said, motioning towards the window of the ship, where inside he saw Julian, Theo, and Griff laughing with a now slightly smiling Sara. Being able to see this, right here and now, made Loki smile. Silently, he thanked everyone who helped him out the other day in the battle.

"Yeah, I don't think they would. And...I dont think I would either," said Loki, laughing a bit.

Mace smiled a bit before he seemed to remember something and looked at him a bit more seriously,

"Loki, you let Xaire go. He is a wanted criminal, you understand that right? Why did you let him go?"

Loki sighed, rubbing his hands together at the light chill of the docking bay.

"Well, Mace, I just going to say you won't have lot of trouble finding him. Maybe a week or so, give or take."

"How can you infer this?" Said Mace,'narrowing his eyes in question.

Loki smirked.

"Something tells me he'll be wearing a lot of hats to cover his forehead, or what's left of it anyways, for the rest of his miserable life. I'm sure Jaimay and Korr will tell you all about it." He said motioning to the two soldiers in the pilots room. They offered him a wave which he gladly returned.

Mace just nodded,

"As confusing as what you just said was, I will consider it. We'll find him, don't worry."

"You know, you've truly changed a lot, Laufeyson. A lot. I know I've said it a million times but...appreciate that." He continued, a hint of pride in his voice. "You're free to go. Your ship is all fueled and stocked up on materials for the next week or so. If anything goes wrong, just reach out to us. We'll be happy to help."

"Thank you," Loki said again, this time a bit more comfortable, and began to walk off towards his kids.

Mace had just turned around and was going to walk over to a fellow scientist Dr. Phil by the autodrives when Loki's voice rang out from the cockpit of his ship,

"One thing, Mace. My name isn't Laufeyson. It's Odinson. Prince Loki Odinson, of Asgard."

He snorted. Changed or not, he still had his ego with titles. Though he had to give him a little credit. The fact that he kept his name surprised him. After all this time. Turning around again, he gave a wave to the now departing ship.

Walking toward his comrades, he nearly dropped his gear when he remembered something Fury of Midgard had said to him when he mentioned the threat of Thanos to him for the first time.

"_Shit!" _He swore, quite loudly.

Grabbing the Comm speaker, he called into Loki's ship,

"_Your brother...he is on...Midgard...Wakanda." _

It was all he was able to get through before the Comm died. Damn! He banged his fist on the desk and prayed to the Norns, and all of the other weird things that were out there, somewhere, that they got his message.

Watching the ship leave the athmosphere, he felt a presence by his side. Turning to see the Captain Lee the 124th, he smiled.

She returned it a grim smile.

"Sir, what do we do now. We let a criminal go, and Loki...he's still considered a threat to the Galaxy. What will the boss think? He still wants him. We-"

"Let's not worry about that now, Lee. It will happen eventually. Let them have their peace now. And let us have ours."

She looked at him, eyes looking for any sign of worry or fear,

"Does he know? Does he have any idea?"

He grimaced,

"I don't know. Maybe. We'll have to find out."

Glancing back up at the now speck of a ship, he smirked,

"You can never know when it comes to him. Tricky little bastard he is, Loki."

Tricky, indeed.

**And...scene! Hey guys, that was chapter 6 *crowd cheers loudly* omg thx! Okay so I have some good news and some bad news rn. And just reg news so I'll just say that now. The reason I took so long updating was of RB, of course , and the fact that me and my family went on a vacation to the US for a couple of weeks. I tried working on C6 on the plane, and at the Apartment that my aunt and uncle live in, but I was constantly pulled away from my work to have...family time. _Yay. _Anyways, it was fun, but here we go. Good news is that I will be updating more chapters. Don't worry, this story isn't done yet, and neither is Loki or Thor, or anyone, mostly. Bad news is that I probably won't be posting as quick as I used to since I have another trip I need to take in a week, and that I'm still waiting for RB, but it seems rather quick this time which makes me sooo happy so I can write an amazing ending, to end. Oh right! The other bad news is that I will be finishing this story soon since I have sorta curled in on the ending as you may have noticed. I'm thinking at least 2-3 more chapters before we end. I prob said that in the last chapter but whatever. I can't wait to start writing it tho, I have so many ideas! And for the scene that involves Loki cutting Xaire's head, I got inspired by a scene in the incredible movie, Inglorious Bastards, which I found via Netflix,in which the main captain of the Bastards decides to cut into the Nazi's head the Nazi Swastika so they can recognize him and yeah. I felt inspired so I made it kinda similar to that. I just, didn't include the gore. Anyways, thx so much for reading, Chapter 7 will be out in time I promise. And thank you all so much for staying with me through these like 2 months. It's been incredible having u all support me. Thx again!**


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